Many electronic devices include modules or plug-ins that perform a variety of functions. Such devices may be portable and may include, but are not limited to, laptop computers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), calculators, and handheld games or controllers, or any device in which a removable memory, memory and processor combined, digital signal processor, or power source card is desired. Such devices commonly incorporate the use of a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card having standard SIM reader electrical contacts. A connector typically receives a SIM card with contacts corresponding to the standard SIM card contacts.
An example of where a SIM card may be used is with a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, found in computers. A PCI Card provides direct access to system memory for devices connected to the card. A bridge is used to connect to the frontside bus, which connects to the CPU. Because there is an ongoing effort to reduce overall device size, PCI Cards are largely being replaced by cards having smaller sizes as well as advanced features. As the size of electronic devices decreases, the reduction of the size of various components within each device becomes valuable and desirable in order to decrease the overall device size. Mini PCI Cards are small internal cards functionally equivalent to PCI Cards. PCI Express Cards are an improvement over PCI Cards, whereby a point-to-point switching connection is provided. Two devices on the bus are directly connected when communicating with each other, allowing devices to communicate without slowing each other down. A yet further improvement is the PCI Express Mini Card, currently used in, among other places, laptop computers. This card replaces the Mini PCI Card and is approximately one half of the form factor of a Mini PCI Card, allowing a reduction in size or use of two PCI Mini Express Cards in the same space.
SIM card and their connectors may also be used in, for example, mobile telecommunications devices, laptop computers, the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) Card, and the PCMCIA Express Card. Examples of the various mobile telecommunication devices in which SIM cards may be desired include devices operating on the Groupe Special Mobile (also known as GSM or Global System for Mobile Communications) standard digital cellular phone service. The SIM connector may be integral to the mobile telecommunication device, and is often accessible beneath the battery. The SIM card may be installed or inserted into the SIM connector of the mobile telecommunication device, linking that mobile telecommunication device to the subscriber-related information stored on the SIM card. The subscriber-related information facilitates a telephone call from any valid mobile communication device, because the subscriber-related information is used to complete the call rather than specific internal physical identifiers (such as an internal serial number) that may be associated with the mobile telecommunication device.
In general, the form factors of conventional SIMs are substantially planar, and in some cases SIMs may be about the size of a postage stamp. SIM connectors have approximately the same form factor, and may also be approximately the same thickness; for PCI Mini Express Cards, a standard height available to accommodate both a SIM and a SIM connector is approximately 1.35 mm. A conventional SIM and SIM connector, which are stacked, exceed this height, and accordingly the combined height limits the use of SIMs with such reduced size cards. This in turn may limit a desired reduction in size of the device in which SIM cards are disposed.